FedEx’s Founder Says He Has One Big Job Before Mulling Retirement

FedEx Corp. founder Fred S says he’s nearing the end of his four-decade tenure as chief executive officer, having built a startup into a logistics behemoth with about $70 billion in annual sales.

But first, with the company leaving a trail of disappointment on Wall Street the last two years, he has some unfinished business.

Investors are skeptical about whether Smith’s retooling of the ground network will help FedEx squeeze more profit out of the rise of online shopping. The courier is still trying to integrate a crucial European acquisition, which was crippled by a state-sponsored cyberattack in 2017. And FedEx was in the middle of a major upgrade to its aging fleet of cargo jets when President Donald Trump unleashed a trade war that slowed demand for international packages.